Similar To Earth, Mars Turns Out To Have Also Flooded

Planet Mars is often experiencing changing climate conditions. (photo:doc. nasa)

JAKARTA - Planet Mars turns out to be really like Earth, often experiencing changing climate conditions. Wet and dry cycles have occurred in the planet's surface environment earlier.

New observations of mud cracks carried out by NASA's Curiosity rover show that the Red Planet may have seen seasonal weather patterns or even flash floods.

Found in Gale Crater, Curiosity sees a six-sided pattern that hints at the history of repeated cycles of wet and dry conditions, allowing minerals to dry up among wet mantras to create specific formations that have become rocks.

"This interesting observation of a mature mud crack allows us to fill in some of the history of water lost on Mars. These features also suggest a very conducive wet and dry environment on Earth for the development of organic molecules and the potential for life," said lead researcher ChemCam instrument on board Curiosity rover Nina Lanza.

"Overall, this result gives us a clearer picture of Mars as a habitable world," he continued.

However, little is known about short-term climate fluctuations on Mars. The six-sided pattern is well preserved in sediment rocks, rich in calcium salt and magnesium.

Pola originated from about 3.6 to 3.8 billion years ago, spanning two periods of time known as Noachian and Hesperian.

The researchers then studied the options, and concluded the most likely explanation was the drying of wet mud. Not only once dried.

Wet mud that dried up once cracked at a T-shaped intersection. Its use is through repeated drying cycles that produce Y-shaped crack junctions, such as compiled from Science Alert and Science Daily, Monday, August 14.

"The main focus of the Curiosity mission, and one of the main reasons for choosing Gale Crater, is to understand the warm and wet ancient Mars transition to cold and dry Mars that we see now," said co-author of the paper, Patrick Gasda.

"The rover from the basic sediment of clay lakes to non-based sediments of lakes and the drier sulfate-rich is part of this transition," he added.

Curiosity's mud crack was found to be only a few centimeters deep. These findings, published in the journal Nature, can indicate that Mars once had a wet climate like Earth, with seasonal or short-term floods and the planet may be able to support life at some point.

"What's important about this phenomenon is that it is the perfect place for the formation of polymer molecules needed for life, including protein and RNA, if appropriate organic molecules exist at this site," Gasda said.

"Wet periods unify molecules while dry periods drive reactions to form polymers. When these processes occur repeatedly at the same location, opportunities to form more complex molecules there increase," he added.